jevnin.com

Category: design

  • Banana = Design = Innovation = Vision

    Banana = Vision Love it or hate it, Bruce Nussbaum makes some great points in Are Designers the Enemy of Design? I think I buy most of it. Is Design a specialist activity? If it’s done well, generally yes. Is that likely to change? For the most part, I don’t think so. Will ‘the everyman’…

  • Hanging Blockquotes: Implemented

    If you’re not looking at this entry on my site, it’s not gonna look quite right. For the best view, look here. Just wanted to let y’all know that I’ve fixed my blockquotes so that they’re hanging. You’ll notice that I not only hang my blockquotes, but list items as well. Check it out: This…

  • The Design of CruiseControl.rb

    If you’ve heard me talk about work lately, you have probably heard me talk about an Open Source project I’ve been working on with a handful of other folks at ThoughtWorks. Previous to now, it’s been “privately public,” existing on servers where people could get to it, but not so public that we were letting…

  • The Devil’s in the Details: NYTimes.com edition

    Imagine the situation: you’re reading the newspaper online. Great article. It’s filling you in on the big story that everybody is talking about over at the water cooler. In a few seconds you’re going to go over to them and fill them in on this juicy new detail. But then – wait – what was…

  • On Iteration

    “It’s not an iteration if you only do it once!” – Fred Sampson, in the UPA Voice Developers & designers: Please, please don’t just implement your first idea. Think about it for a few minutes. Sketch it on paper a few times a few different ways. Nine times out of ten you’ll find that your…

  • Some advice from Don Norman

    Just when you’re looking for some inspiration, a quote from someone famous is bound to help: The most important consulting rule that I follow is: “Never solve the problem as stated.” Why? because it is invariably the wrong problem, usually being the symptom rather than the cause. Find the root cause and solve that, and…

  • Screen-placement testing tool

    All sorts of automated tests happen on projects at ThoughtWorks. There are Unit Tests, Functional tests, GUI tests, and others that make sure the software we’re building runs well from the most back-end function all the way to the user’s interface. One thing we don’t test, however, is where particular elements land on a screen.…

  • Creating Visual Design Options

    One of the ideas that I try to progress when I join a new project is that much of my job will simply be about exploring options. If I do my job right, more than half of the options will end up in the trash bin, so that’s to be expected. Many people have a…

  • Evolution vs. Revolution in Digital Design

    iPhone presentation Originally uploaded by Dan_H. One distinction many people make when defining a design project is whether the design will be another evolution of an existing technique, set of tools, or technologies, or if it will be a revolutionary implementation. This decision is most often made implicitly, generally without any direct thought about revolutionary…

  • It’s not about touch screens

    In a few months, remember that you heard it here first: Technology pundits are sure to hail Apple’s iPhone and soon-to-be competitors for using touch screens in their designs. I submit, and will continue to maintain that it is not the touch screens, but the interactions that those screens afford. Many others will try to…